THIRD ANNUAL MEETING ^3 



below at a fourth nest. Clinching- to the rope with one hand and leg 

 I chopped away the rock with the other hand until the nest was 

 reached and the four fresh eggs safely transferred to my mouth and 

 later to the ground. On June 14, Mr. Gary and I returned to the cliff 

 and I secured sets from the three nests which I visited first on my 

 former ascent. On this trip I secured photographs of the cliff and the 

 nest and eggs. 



On June 2, Prof. Bruner located another nest in the west branch of 

 Warbonnet Canon. This was not so high as the others, being not more 

 than twenty feet from the base of the cliff, and was easily reached 

 by cutting a slender pine and leaning it against the cliff. But two 

 eggs were secured from this nest. In all, five nests Avere found and 

 sets secured from each, — two of four eggs, two of three, and one of 

 two. The eggs are pure dull white more or less specked and spotted 

 by some black foreign substance which can be only partly removed 

 by washing. They are long and pointed, as can be seen by the measure- 

 ments. The eggs in a typical set of four measured respectively: 25x15, 

 22x14, 22x14, 22x14 mm. The smallest of the sixteen eggs collected 

 measures 21x13 mm., the largest 25x15; while the average is 22.7x13.6. 

 During incubation the parent birds are much attached to the nesting 

 localitj' and fly constantly back and forth before the cliff. The female 

 sits very close, often having to be removed from the nest by force, 

 which is dangerous to the safety of the eggs, as anj'one who has seen 

 or felt their claAvs can testifj'. The nests are invariably infested by 

 a hemipterous insect much resembling the common bedbug. Whether 

 these insects live parasitically upon the young birds or not, I cannot 

 say, biit none were ever found upon the adults. These birds are quite 

 common in all the canons of the Pine Ridge where there are large 

 cliffs with fissures of a sufficient height from the ground to suit the 

 birds. I also saw a few in August around the large bluff at Gering, 

 Neb., known as Scott's Bluff. 



Bullock's Oriole (Icterus bullocki). — Bullock's Oriole replaces the 

 Baltimore in the western part of the state and seems partial to the 

 cottonwood-fringed streams of the prairie and semi-arid regions. In 

 fact the drier and less hospitable the place is, providing there are a 

 J . w stunted cottonwoods to be found, the better they seem to like 

 it, for the only nest found was one right in the center of a tract of 

 bad lands about seven miles in extent. The tree containing the nest 

 was a very respectable tree indeed, for that region, and grew in the 

 bed of a creek which contained water only in the early spring and 

 for a few hours after a heavy rain. All around were the seamed and 

 rugged slopes of that peculiar whitish clay composing the Tertiary 

 deposits, and which seems to reflect every ray of sunlight that beats 

 down upon it until one thinks that every reflected ray is trying to 

 enter his half-blinded eyes at the same moment. Here the Bullock's 

 Oriole is at home and rears its young in peace and safety, except when 



